


You're a Terrible Cook

by abrasivepersonalitytendersoul



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Barson, Cooking, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 05:18:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6941434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abrasivepersonalitytendersoul/pseuds/abrasivepersonalitytendersoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Ya know, just some Tumblr requests.</p>
    </blockquote>





	You're a Terrible Cook

**Author's Note:**

> Ya know, just some Tumblr requests.

“Where the fuck is the pasta aisle?” Rafael muttered under his breath. He hadn’t been to the grocery store since he and Olivia got engaged and they had moved everything around in the store. He rarely ate his own home-cooked meals before then too. It’s hard to cook for one person and he wasn’t fond of leftovers. So he got really good at Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, cold cuts, cereal, and TV dinners. And he had a lot of take-out places either on speed dial or somewhere in his phone.

Due to their schedules, Olivia and Rafael would eat take-out, or she would make something quick. She didn’t want to raise Noah to rely on fast food, so she tried to be home as often as possible for dinners, but it just didn’t happen as often as she wanted. That was one of the reasons she loved having Lucy around. Lucy knew how to cook and was able to feed Noah home-cooked meals. She didn’t even mind that the menu consisted of a lot of macaroni and cheese. At least it wasn’t Happy Meals.

When they started dating, Rafael wanted to make a real dinner for Olivia. He had purchased all the ingredients and followed the directions to a tee. They sat down to eat and he watched with pride as Olivia took the first bite. She tried to be nice, but her gag reflex took over. He quickly took a bite and although he didn’t hate the way it tasted, he knew his mother could have made something better blindfolded and with one arm tied behind her back. From then on, Olivia did the cooking, and the grocery shopping, and pretty much anything food related. They even had a running joke for a while that Rafael needed help heating up the few leftovers he did enjoy.

So here they were, two years later on their anniversary, and Rafael wanted to try his hand at cooking again. This time, it was going to be extra special. He picked an easy dish- Baked Ziti. It was literally three ingredients. How could he mess this up? However, he was standing in the middle of the bread aisle where he swore the pasta sauce used to be and started searching frantically as if he had lost Noah in the store. He finally found what he was looking for, checked out, and headed home. 

When he was back at the apartment he and Olivia had moved into six months earlier, he got out his recipe and got to work. He focused on doing one thing at a time. Preheating the oven, then browning the hamburger, then cooking the pasta. He checked and double checked the temperature of the beef, combined the ingredients, sprinkled the cheese on top and popped it in the oven- and he only nearly dropped it twice. He set the timer and changed his clothes. Tonight was a special night. Two years was a big feat. 

Olivia came home about twenty minutes later then usual, but it wasn’t a problem at all. That’s the price you pay for living in New York City. She had made plans to have Sonny and Amanda watch Noah for the night. Jesse was old enough to play with Noah and Noah loved spending time with Uncle Sonny and Aunt Amanda. She set her things down on the couch and headed into the kitchen for a glass of water. She saw the ziti cooling on the counter and nearly screamed. 

“Rafael, I thought we were eating out tonight?” she asked hesitantly.

He walked up to her and pulled her in close for a kiss and said, “I thought I was eating out the other night, but I guess we don’t always get what we want.”

She tried to look stern, but his snarky remark made her smile a bit. “I just don’t know how to tell you this, but you’re a terrible cook.”

“I am aware, mi amor. But I think you’ll like this. I wanted something special for tonight. Even if it is a simple dish.”

“Well I told your mother that if I die from your cooking, she should sue you on my behalf so you better be sure of this.”

Rafael chuckled and ushered her into their bedroom. “Just get changed, my dear.”

She emerged a few minutes later and tentatively sat down at the dining room table. Rafael had already served up portions for the two of them, poured them both a glass of wine, and placed some bread and garlic butter on the table. She looked at him and waited for him to say this was all a joke and they were going out. 

All he did was smile at her. It was one of those, “I’m head over heels in love with you” smiles. He had confessed to her a long time ago that he was smitten with her when he first laid eyes on her in the courtroom. It had taken her a while to catch up to him, but when she became his, he made up for lost time. No one had ever taken care of her the way he did. 

“Go on, Olivia,” he said gently.

She took a tiny piece off with her fork and took a bite. Her eyes went wide and his eyes had terror in them.

“Jesus, Raf. This is delicious.”

“So now is the time to tell you I’ve been practicing my cooking with my mother?”

“You could have said that before I spent all that time trying to figure out how to fake sickness so I wouldn’t have to eat this.”

“That’s mean, Liv. Do you really have such little faith in me?”

“In the courtroom? Our lives? Not at all. In the kitchen? Yes.”

“Will you always have faith in me, Liv?”

“Yes, Rafael. You’ve just proven yourself.”

“Olivia, I’m going to let you down. That’s a fact. But knowing that you have faith in me- in us, means the world to me. You and Noah mean the world to me. You are my world. Please let me have a lifetime of showing you that. Will you marry me?”

He got down on his knee and pulled out a ring. She smiled and blinked back tears. 

“Yes!”

He put the ring on her finger and stood up to kiss her. 

“Under one condition though,” she said as she pulled away from him.

“Anything for you, Olivia Barba.”

“Keep taking cooking lessons from your mother.”


End file.
